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0 pointsLionga7mo ago0 comments

5.6 billion loss in 2024 on $918 million in revenue.

When you are selling a 5 dollars for 1 dollar doubling revenue is easy. It just creates more losses, same with OpenAI

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What is their gross margins? Is the loss just because they have to keep competing at an ultra competitive race?

On a software focused forum like HN, I’m surprised people still don’t understand the grow at all cost until you are the top 2 or 3 left model. There has been dozens of examples of tech companies losing money for years just to become highly profitable after.

People are still not getting that big tech is investing like their lives depend on it is because they are. GenAI can render the core businesses of big tech obsolete.

rurp7mo ago

> There has been dozens of examples of tech companies losing money for years just to become highly profitable after.

Sure, but there have been thousands of tech companies that lost money year over year and went bust. Odds are that any given AI company will end up losing a lot of money. Maybe the asymmetric potential payoff is worth the risk in certain cases, but it's not crazy to be skeptical about Anthropic or any other hot company.

aurareturn7mo ago

  Sure, but there have been thousands of tech companies that lost money year over year and went bust. Odds are that any given AI company will end up losing a lot of money. Maybe the asymmetric potential payoff is worth the risk in certain cases, but it's not crazy to be skeptical about Anthropic or any other hot company.

That's the game. It's called the power law in VC investing. It's worked.

tobias37mo ago

That depends on the regulators being asleep on the wheel again and letting monopolies happen. At the minimum here in Europe they'd automatically fall under Digital Services Act. According to OpenAI they have 41.3 million average monthly active recipients in the European Union. Only a few million more and they fall under DSA.

That is if US sanctions don't kill the DSA.

computerphage7mo ago

So, how would you do it?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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aurareturn7mo ago

What is their gross margins? Is the loss just because they have to keep competing at an ultra competitive race?

People are still not getting that big tech is investing like their lives depend on it is because they are. GenAI can render the core businesses of big tech obsolete.

rurp7mo ago

> There has been dozens of examples of tech companies losing money for years just to become highly profitable after.

aurareturn7mo ago

  Sure, but there have been thousands of tech companies that lost money year over year and went bust. Odds are that any given AI company will end up losing a lot of money. Maybe the asymmetric potential payoff is worth the risk in certain cases, but it's not crazy to be skeptical about Anthropic or any other hot company.

That's the game. It's called the power law in VC investing. It's worked.

tobias37mo ago

That is if US sanctions don't kill the DSA.

computerphage7mo ago

So, how would you do it?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse